Unlike such trend-chasing food chains as Crumbs, Chipotle\’s run of success is looking every bit as sustainable as it claims its ingredients are.

As analysts at Sterne Agee observed in a note Tuesday, there appears to be no such thing as a bear market for burritos.

The company is expected to see annual U.S. sales balloon to $5.5 billion by 2016, from about $4.5 billion today, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet. This as most quick-service restaurants, notably McDonald’s
, are seeing tepid growth in the U.S.

The growth is part of a pattern that has persisted since the company was founded. Chipotle’s sales have increased at a phenomenal rate, up 1,143% since 2003 and 377% since 2006, the year the company went public.

The company’s share price has also marched upward, rising from around $80 a share in 2009 to $665.27 by Tuesday afternoon, when the stock was up 12.8% on the day.

Sterne Agee, and a host of other analysts, revised their price expectations for Chipotle’s stock upwards. Most are now in the $600 to $700 range, if they weren’t there already. Analysts’ expectations for the company’s growth are by far the highest among its peers. Analysts at Wunderlich Securities revised their same-store-sales growth guidance for 2014 from “mid-teen” to “high-teen.”

Analysts believe the company has room to drastically expand its domestic reach to 4,000 restaurants. It currently has about 1,700 outlets. The company also owns seven ShopHouse-branded Southeast Asian restaurants, and is an investor in Pizzeria Locale, which currently has just one restaurant.

In its second-quarter earnings report, the company said it expects to open between 180 and 195 restaurants in 2014. It’s already halfway to that goal, having opened 89 restaurants through end June. The company plans to open several more ShopHouse locations in the coming year, and at least one more Pizzeria Locale.

And Chipotle is looking to expand in more ways than one. In the second quarter, it’s little-known catering business accounted for about 1.6% of sales, up from about 1%, an increase Sterne Agee said was driven by school graduations. Chipotle said its catering service is available throughout the country, except in New York City, where it expects to be operational by the end of 2014.

The company views rising ingredient prices, which in turn have forced it to raise prices, as the most obvious potential impediment to growth.

In a profile of competing quick-serve restaurants, Market-research firm PlaceIQ found that Chipotle’s customers are the best-educated in its peer group, highlighting the importance of one of the company’s main selling points: it’s exclusive use of meats from animals raised without the use of antibiotics or hormones. Better educated customers, it appears, are willing to pay slightly more for a better product.

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